Publishers Have an Unfair Advantage

Today a professor said to me, "you know, we around here don't really like your profession". I asked him why. He said that by asking him to sell his books, he is betraying a trust the publishers put on him by the publishers.

"You don't HAVE to sell them. My job is just to ask. They are yours. You CAN say no." We laughed.

I certainly wasn't trying to coerce him. He went on however to say he thought it was wrong to sell something that he received as a gift. At that point I had to stop him. Gifts are free. Promo copies are not. The students pay the price.

The books I buy go into the books store as used books. If you feel an ethical obligation to the publishers not to contribute to the used textbook market, that is fine. I guess it depends where your allegiances lie, to the publishers or to the students. The way I parse that out is simple. My allegiance is to the students. I think they pay too much for new books. I put my money where my mouth is and work to increase the supply of used books. The publishers I view, to use an antiquated term, are profiteering: over charging the students, manipulating the market by artificially shortening the lifespan of textbooks. I think the publishers exercise an unfair advantage.